The Tree of Memories (A Work in Progress)
by HanaImakura
Summary: (NO LONGER A WORK IN PROGRESS!) This is Ralph's childhood memories, if and when they could have taken place.
1. Chapter 1

The Tree of Memories

READ BEFORE CONTINUING!

You might already know that this is a _Wreck-It Ralph_ fan-fiction. I am writing this brief

introduction to inform the reader that this fan-fiction may impede on some individual ideas

already being formulated about Ralph's actual backstory. This is my take on the story that could

have possibly taken place before the Nicelanders moved in and for now, it will be very brief.

Later, I may add more parts to it. However, I am not going to make this one of the romance fan-

fictions, since this is mainly dealing with Ralph's attachment to his stump. I will also be breaking

this into small chunks called "Memories", since they will be about Ralph's life that may have

taken place around that tree.

Memory 1:

The Patch of Fireflies

A young boy with dark-red, short, messy hair, bushy eyebrows and dark eyes set close to

one another above a huge, slightly reddish nose was sitting and waiting eagerly on a bench

during a game of football in his helmet, shoulder pads and bright white uniform with the number

8 on his back, located just above his name, R. Ralph. He stood up with hopeful excitement as

one of the players on his team was taken out, thinking, "Alright! Maybe I can finally get a

chance to play!" and a wide grin spread across his face like wildfire. The season before this had

been extremely uneventful for him, although his team was great at playing. The coach usually

asked him to fetch the ball if it went out of bounds or past a goal, or he was usually asked to

retrieve towels and water. It never seemed they were too eager to allow him to join in, but this

just might be his chance to show them that he could play just as well as anyone else.

The coach stood up to take a look at the remaining available players who were not either

injured in some way or taking a breather. It seemed the only one to choose was Ralph. Ralph,

the Team Trouble-Maker. As Ralph peered up at him with a hopeful look in his eyes, the

coach's expression softened up a bit and he said, "Rekkit, you had better do us proud out there.".

At this, Ralph jumped with joy and took off out into the field , yelling back to his coach, "Yes!

You won't regret this, sir!". Now, the game was on.

Ralph stood crouched directly in front of the kid who had the ball, determined to be the

first to snatch it from him. The other boy looked extremely tough, with grass stains all over his

uniform and a small bruise directly under one of his pit-like eyes. Before the whistle was blown,

the kid made an arrogant smile and said, "So… Your name's Rekkit, huh? You think you can

take one for the team, buddy?". Ralph's eyebrows came down in focus and his smile twisted

slightly before replying with "Wanna bet, grass-butt?". Challenge accepted. Ralph was not

going to show any mercy.

The whistle blew and everything flew by in a blur. Ralph kicked off as hard and as

quickly as he could to gain force, as well as momentum. It seemed as if he was almost breezing

past all of the opposing players as he began to single out the kid who caught the ball and was

running with it towards the field goal, when, in reality, his force was knocking them aside and

putting a few into a brief shock. He even bounced off of a few of them, gaining him even more

force due to speed. Within a few seconds, Ralph was upon the unfortunate target, raging toward

him at top speed. The impact was not going to be pretty.

Ralph realized what he was doing just a bit too late. He tried to dig his shoes into the

grass to slow himself down before he really could injure the other boy, but it failed. Ralph

collided headlong into the other player, who, may I add, was much shorter and smaller in stature

than Ralph. A split second before the collision, both boys looked each other straight in the eyes

with an expression in which they were both united- fear. Something must have clicked in

Ralph's mind, because in this instant, he forgot to take the ball and both boys fell hard to the

ground with a loud thud, disturbing a cloud of dirt and dust as well as a few clumps of grass. A

moment later, Ralph recovered and took a good look at the other kid as the coach came running

up to see if there were any injuries. This kid was scrawny, weak-looking, had a nose similar to

Ralph's own, had light, brown hair under his helmet (the helmet had come off slightly during

the impact) and he was carrying a golden hammer in his belt, which, oddly enough, he wore

over his uniform. Uh-oh.

The coach was half-way to where they were and Ralph panicked. He knew that the kid he

had just knocked out was Felix Junior, the most popular kid in the town, which meant that he

was about to get into some serious trouble. _Aw, man… What to do? What do do?!_ Ralph chewed

his nails, so to speak, as he quickly glanced at the coach, back at Felix, back at the coach, back

at Felix. Just before the coach arrived, Felix faded out and reappeared, refreshed and ready to

play again, with a huge, friendly smile plastered on his face, as usual. "Well, that was quite'uh

force ya showed there, m'friend! Congratulations!" Felix grinned and extended a friendly hand

for Ralph to shake. Ralph was absolutely dumbfounded.

Ralph opened his mouth to say, "Look, Felix… I'm really sor-" when the coach

interrupted with a loud, booming voice, yelling out," What were you trying to do, Rekkit?! Kill

Felix?! I mean, look! I know he's not on our team, but you know you can lose points in this

game if you injure another player! What were you thinking?!" and he grabbed Ralph's arm with

fingers of steel, causing a great deal of pain to rocket up through Ralph's nerves. Ralph's eyes

watered up with tears as he made an attempt to pull away, answering "I was only trying to score

for the team, coach! I tried to slow down! I really did! Look, I didn't mean to hurt him!".

"And what did you mean to accomplish by sacrificing our points, hmm?" the coach

snarled slightly at Ralph and pulled him in closer, appearing as if he was about to beat up Ralph

to show him how it felt, no matter if Ralph already knew or not. Ralph covered his face and

clenched his teeth in fear as a few tears rolled down his cheeks. "Umm… Sir? May I just add

that I don't think Ralph was tryin' ta kill me? I mean, it might soun' absurd, but that look in 'is

eyes before we crashed…" Felix meekly attempted to speak up to defend Ralph to stop whatever

violence was about to take place. "Felix, you should just stay out of this, alright? This is

between me n' my boy!" the coach interrupted, frightening Felix back into silence and forcing

him to leave. Felix slowly sulked off, stopping only once to glance back to see poor Ralph

getting smacked around a bit and trying to yell over his dad's voice, attempting to talk sense into

him before taking off running out past the field goal and into the night. Then, he could not help

but notice that the crowd had gone dead quiet.

Ralph kept running, blinded by his own tears and misguided by a broken heart. He bolted

through the town park, over the fence, past the forest, over the dump and then a blinding light

caught his attention. He wiped his eyes on his forearm and as he peered out into the night, he

could see a small orb of golden light dancing on the wind a short distance from himself. Ralph

was still quite upset on the inside, but he suddenly felt extremely curious about this tiny little

creature and decided to try to catch it to see what it was.

He followed it for some time and it seemed as if all of his worries and fears had simply

washed away, carried off by the winds, much like the little ball of light. A small, but pure smile

found it's way back onto his face as he happily chased after the insect, cupping his already huge

hands together in an attempt to capture it. This little game continued for an amount of time

unknown to Ralph, who had found bliss in playing with this small creature and before he knew

it, the little flyer landed against a flat, upward surface and flitted it's wings as it cleaned it's tiny

face. It's little greenish light flickered once or twice before it realized that Ralph's hands were

about to lock it in a huge, dark abyss and not even a second before his hands closed around it,

the little guy took off into the night.

As darkness yet again descended in the wake of the tiny creature, Ralph began to

remember why and from who and what he ran away from. He quickly twirled on one foot and

fell into a slump up against the surface from which the insect took off. Too distraught to take

notice of where he was, he again buried his face in his hands, pulled in his knees and thought to

himself, _Why am I always the bad guy? Why is it that every time I have an accident, it's a crime_

_and every time someone else has an accident, it's a friendly get-together?_. As he began to sob

again, another bright light illuminated his entire body and he then looked straight up into the

sky.

There, among the summer leaves, were a thousand fireflies, some clinging in huge groups

to single leaves, some standing alone and many rushing through the aerial speedways created by

the branches to illuminate the entire tree and everything under it's greenery. One extremely

small firefly descended and made it's landing right on Ralph's nose, causing him to look cross-

eyed at it. It looked him straight back in the eyes and tilted it's head slightly, as if out of concern.

Ralph smiled for a split second before looking away and closing his eyes with an expression of

deep sadness on his face. He waved his hand in front of his face to shoo the firefly away and it

took off into the leaves of the tree, only to return with a group of four others, each of a different

body size and shade of light, all of which were not among friends up in the top of the tree, and

they each landed on Ralph's shoulder. Ralph then opened his eyes to see them sitting there and

said, "Come on, guys. You don't want me as a friend. I might accidentally destroy you." in a

low, slightly grumbly voice. The fireflies made no audible reply and refused to budge.

Ralph peered up again at the colony of fireflies up in the branches and it occurred to him that maybe

these ones were outcasts just like him. He took one last look at them, yawned and smiled as he

reclined against the firefly-tree and drifted off to sleep.

End of Memory 1


	2. Chapter 2

Memory 2:

Through The Rabbit Hole and Back Again

It was afternoon and school was close to ending for the day. Ralph was on his way to the final class

in the day- an art course that was required for all students. He was about ten years old, now and could

take on several kids at once without so much as a scratch, although fights were his least favorite thing to do.

When he reached the class room, he took a look around at all of the art work, made a depressed face,

dropped his backpack down by his stool, took a seat and sighed. This was always the long hour. It

was not the fact that he did not like this kind of thing at all, just that this was the hour in which he was

most liable to have an accident, whether it involved paper, paints, scissors or clay. Something was bound to happen and he

never enjoyed that feeling of uneasiness.

Class began when the teacher finally gathered herself together at her desk and rose to take roll. When his name was called,

as he answered, he noticed a girl about his age, with huge eyes and pitch black long hair, with a cute little nose looking straight at him

and trying to stifle a giggle. "What's so funny, huh?" Ralph was perplexed, because unless she was laughing at his name, he could not see

what was so hilarious. The little girl's face flushed and she seemed to be attempting to find the right words, making the moment extremely awkward.

Before she could speak up, a little boy spoke up from across the room, saying "I think she's laughing at your name, Wreck-It!" as he and a few other

children burst into laughter. The teacher made an attempt to quiet everyone down, but this was doing no good for Ralph. He clenched his fists and his teeth

and appeared as though he was trying to hold himself back. It seemed that something like this happened to him just about every single day and he was

fed up with it all.

Before long, the children all around the room, aside from the quiet little girl, were all chiming in, calling him "Wreck-It" and taunting him,

singing something about Ralph being clumsy and wrecking things. Ralph could stand it no longer and without thinking, he did something

horrible. He quickly made a bee-line for the boy who started the teasing, shoving everything out of his way. One of these things was a metal

easel with a wooden clipboard sitting on it's ledge. Both of these items clattered loudly to the floor, taking the girl with them. Ralph halted

where he was, frozen in place, thinking _What have I done?_ as soon as the girl's cry broke the cacophony of voices. When he looked back

over his shoulder, eyes wide open, he saw the girl covered somewhat by the items he had shoved on top of her, crying as she held her

left knee close to her chest, trying to stop the stream of blood that was now heavily flowing from a cut. Great.

This girl had an excessive bleeding disorder.

The teacher and several other students rushed in to help her up and feeling really sorry, Ralph tried to squeeze into the crowd and apologize to her

first thing. She had stopped crying and seemed to gaze intently at the cloth which the teacher was using to stop her bleeding- she did not seem at

all upset with Ralph. When Ralph finally made it through, the girl finally looked up and she looked only at him. He sighed and pushed back his hair with one of

his gigantic hands and said, "Look, I'm really sorry I did that to you... I really am. I need to control myself when I get upset, I guess..." as he looked back at her

from underneath his bushy eyebrows. The girl made a weak smile, since she already lost a lot of blood and answered, "It's okay, Ralph. I'm not mad at you. If

anything, I'm more upset with those goons who were making fun of you.". After this, the girl passed out and the teacher rushed to her desk to get on the

phone and dial 911. Ralph felt absolutely terrible and it was even worse that it seemed there was nothing he could do.

But then, he remembered that the girl was not lost forever. For a moment there, he began to think he would never see her again.

What made him remember this was that as he was still looking at her face, there was a flicker of electrical blue light, a buzzing noise

and for a split second, a small data rift appeared on one of her cheeks. That's right. They were in a video game and unless you lost a life

outside of your game, you were not gone forever. However, Ralph had had no idea that this girl was not from Niceland at all and worry

instantly took hold of him again when her body began to fizzle out of existence.

"Oh, no! No, no, no, no! You ca- Ya can't delete your code on us! Please!" Ralph shoved his way in closer and made a feeble attempt to grab her before she

ultimately disappeared. Silence ensued as her code disappeared and Ralph was left alone, in the middle of the crowd. Slowly, whispers began to circulate

between the other children, saying how Ralph was now a murderer and it really upset him. As this was going on, Felix was making his way on an errand to the

office and he nearly passed the open doorway to the art classroom. When he saw what was going on, he set his things down outside the room and walked in

just as the teacher left to discuss the matter with the rest of the staff. "Oh, my land... Hey, fellas. What's goin' on? Are you all messin' with Ralph again?" Felix

could not sound angry if his coding depended on it. Ralph was just about to rise to his feet and knock some sense into the other children, but he had made a

promise to that girl and reminded himself to try his hardest to keep it. "So what if we're messin' with Wreck-It, huh?! What's it to you, Felix? You aren't even

friends with him, are you?" came the reply in a low, growling voice.

Felix finally at least managed to make an angry face and as he advanced toward the group, he said "Man, you have some nerve! Ralph and I may not

exactly be friends, but no one's gettin' used as a punchin' bag on my watch!". By this, Felix pretty much meant that no one would be picked on or singled

out either emotionally or physically while he was around. He was always such a nice kid. No wonder why everyone liked him. But why was he at Ralph's school?

Either way, Ralph had had enough for the day. He simply shoved aside a few of the other students and made his way to the door after gathering his things.

Felix turned to follow Ralph and said," Ralph, are you alright? They didn't hurt you, did they?". Ralph remained silent and kept walking. When they left the

classroom, Felix had gathered his stuff and was walking right beside Ralph. At this angle, Ralph could see some official-looking papers sticking out from

Felix's backpack. After a minute of silence, Ralph finally spoke up and asked, "Hey, Felix. What 're those papers for? I mean, not that it's any of my business...".

"Oh, these?" Felix pointed to the papers, "They're my transfer papers. My dad decided to move me to your school after he heard that the kids here were

learnin' more." he smiled a bit.

"Oh... Cool. Oh and about what happened back there... Why did you come in and defend me like that?" Ralph scratched his head and made a confused face.

"Well, I figure if I was 'n trouble, you'd probably do the same thing, right? It's just do unta' others what you'd want done ta you, ya know?" Felix gave Ralph a

I-hope-you-would-do-that-for-me look. Ralph thought for a second before saying, "Well, I suppose I would..." and pressed one of his fingers on his chin a bit in

thought. They were now at the double doors that led out to the schoolyard and Felix stopped before turning to enter the office. "Well, I gotta go hand in these

here papers. I'll see ya later, Ralph." Felix tipped his hat and smiled "Hey, don't worry. If we stick together, maybe those kids'll stop makin' fun o' ya." before

disappearing into the office. Ralph sighed, shouldered his backpack and headed out, thinking _Why would Felix want to be MY friend?_.

Ralph slowly made his way down streets until he reached the edge of town before he stopped again to think.

_I'm not going home again, either._ he thought to himself as he looked back into town. He then resumed on his tired feet and kept walking until he had passed the

junkyard. In the distance, he could see the only piece of heaven in this whole world, the tree, but it was shrouded in dreary gray shades

as the sky began to fill with dark clouds. _Oh, great. Rain._ thought Ralph as he looked up into the sky. It thundered and flashed, causing him to start

running for the protection of the tree.

As soon as he was squeezed up under the limbs, rain began falling from the sky and he heard a few frightened noises coming from a hole in the tree beside

him. He leaned over to peek inside and found two small rabbits huddled together, looking out into the rain with fright on their faces. Ralph then looked up at a

branch just large enough to cover a small area around him and reached up to snap it off and bring it down to surround himself with it. Then, he carefully

reached a hand into the rabbits' hole and as gently as he could, he said "Come on, guys. You'll probably feel better if we wait this out together.". At first, the

rabbits sniffed his hand and drew back in hesitation. When he left it there for a few minutes, they began to realize that he was not going to hurt them and both

climbed up onto the palm of his hand and allowed him to take them out. Ralph then set them down in his lap and put his arms around them, holding them close,

but not too close, so that they would not become cold. The rabbits both slowly stopped shivering in fear and cuddled up in the corners formed by his elbows.

Ralph finally began to release his stress and he eventually fell asleep with the two little balls of white fluff in his arms.

End of Memory 2


	3. Chapter 3

Memory 3:

Ralph and Felix Enjoy A Blustery Day

It was summer again and since Ralph had been kicked out of school, the best way to tell that it was summer was

that the fireflies had all returned once again, every night, to cling to the leaves of Ralph's tree and shine their lights in competition with the stars.

It had been about a half a year since Ralph was removed from school after accidentally terminating that girl's code and though it made

him frustrated at himself when he thought about the memory, the feeling of freedom like this was still great- he got to start summer early. It would not be until

later years that he would come to realize just how much he was missing out on in not getting to go to school.

As Ralph was minding his own business, lumbering through the dump on his way to his tree, he spotted another boy

digging around for something in the rubble. The kid took off his cap and scratched his head, saying "Oh, where could m' hammer possibly be?" in a

puzzled voice. Wondering what Felix was even doing here in the first place, Ralph approached him to ask just what it was he was doing there.

Ralph observed for just one more second before asking, " Hey, Felix! What'cha doin' out here?", which frightened the living daylights

out of Felix and Ralph felt bad for scaring him. Felix jumped in surprise and turned around to see Ralph standing right over him, looking

pretty confused and somewhat shocked himself. Felix stumbled backward a bit and then caught himself as he said, "W-Well,

I was planning to come out here to fly my kite, ya see, and well... The wind tugged it right outta m' hand and startled me, causin' me ta

drop m' hammer...". Felix seemed pretty embarrassed that someone had found out that he dropped his hammer and lost it for once.

Ralph paused for a moment to consider the options of what to do and as a strong wind rushed past him, he made his decision

and said, "Well, I'll help you look for your hammer and your kite. But here's the deal. I haven't had anything really fun to play with since

I ran away from home, so after we find the hammer and the kite, can I borrow the kite for a little while?", with a sort of pleading look on his face.

Felix at first looked shocked and then a smile broke across his face as if Ralph's reply had relieved him of something and he answered, "

Why, sure thing, m' friend! It's a deal! Only, why don't we take turns with the kite, instead? That way we both get to have fun!". Ralph tried to

smile as best he could back and said, "Sure, that's fine by me. Now, lets get to lookin' for that hammer.".

It took some searching, but finally, Ralph had found the mound of bricks disguising the lost item. He shoved the bricks aside and

gasped with happiness when he found it lying there. Ralph turned his head to look at Felix and shouted "Hey, Felix! I found your hammer! 's over here!" as he

made hand gestures telling Felix to come over there. Felix bounced right up and ran right over with a huge smile on his face, relived to know that

he would not be going home without it, because if he did, he knew his father would become pretty cross with him. Felix was about to pick

the hammer back up but when he noticed Ralph reaching for it too, he decided he would let Ralph try to pick it up. Seeing someone else

try to pick it up besides he and his dad was something he had been wanting to see, anyway.

Ralph wrapped his colossal hands around the handle of the hammer and made a strained face as he tried to pick it up.

Ralph kept pulling and straining himself to pick it up for a few seconds and when Felix saw that nothing was happening,

he finally said, "It's alright, Ralph. I'll get it. I wonder why it won't let someone else pick it up, though?" and bent down to grab it from Ralph.

Ralph looked utterly disappointed- all that climbing the tree, punching bags at the school gym and lifting weights for fun and for what? To not even be

able to pick up a measly little hammer? Felix saw that Ralph was beginning to look pretty down, so he patted Ralph on the back and said,

"Hey, Ralph, don't be so hard on yourself. I don't think this hammer's s'pposed ta be able ta be handled by even a super-hero, anyway.", which

seemed to make Ralph cheer up a tiny bit. Ralph attempted to shoo away his own darkness by looking up at Felix, smiling slightly and saying,

"Well, you got your hammer back. Lets go find that kite now, shall we?".

At this Felix broke into another smile and waited for Ralph to get back up before they both headed off in the direction of the tree to

try and find the kite. Ralph took off faster than Felix so that he could lead the way to the tree- he had a pretty good feeling that that was where

they would find Felix's kite. When they finally reached the tree, Felix's face took on a surprised and worried expression when he saw his kite, broken

in two, hanging from the limbs of the tree and with a gasp, he said, "Oh, my land... THIS is what the wind did ta m' kite?". As Felix stood there, Ralph began to

start climbing the stump of the tree, saying back to Felix with a bit of a grunt, "Don't worry! I'll get it down, Felix! After that, we can figure out what to do.".

Ralph climbed higher and higher until he began to be able to reach the middle branches up in the greenery. The kite was dangling from a branch

slightly higher than what he was able to reach just by picking up his feet, so to get on it, he grabbed a higher branch, lifted himself and- crack! Ralph

yelled out in fear, thinking that he was falling and he closed his eyes. When he heard a loud thud, he looked around to see Felix shivering

a few steps away from a branch that fell.

Okay, well, maybe this tree could be dangerous. Just maybe. Ralph looked down at Felix and called out, "Hey, Felix! You okay down there? That

branch almost hit you!" and made a concerned face, although his emotions were quite mixed up- at the same time he was genuinely concerned,

he wanted to burst out laughing due to relief that the branch did not hit Felix. Felix took a moment to find his voice and even when he spoke, it

was still shaky. "Y-Yeah, I-I'm q-quite alright, R-Ralph. Y-You just keep c-climbin'!" he called back, knees trembling. With a determined look on his face, Ralph

drew himself up and gingerly set his feet on the branch that suspended the broken kite. He then slowly inched towards the toy and leaned in to grab it,

but he was careful not to put down so much weight that the branch might break and tumble down with him.

When at last Ralph had the kite in his hands, he accidentally let go of the branch above his head and with a snap, he came tumbling down

through the branches. Felix gasped in horror with an "Oh, my land!" and rushed to try and catch Ralph, even if the attempt would be futile. A pile

of branches fell just behind Felix, but no Ralph. Felix looked at his empty arms in shock and then looked up to see Ralph dangling from a rather weak-looking

branch. Yep, this tree was out to kill them. Felix had no idea what to do and Ralph began to panic about the fact that he might not land. Taking a few

steps back to get himself out of the way now, Felix gaped in horror at his friend who was now stuck in the tree. After a few seconds, Ralph's fear

turned into frustration and he groaned loudly as he struggled to get down. It turned out that the branch was stronger than they thought and

it took Ralph several minutes of pulling and wiggling for the strap of his overalls that was caught on the branch to snap, dropping him smack dab

into the pile of branches that had fallen earlier.

Felix immediately rushed over to dig Ralph out of the pile and help him get to his feet. "Ralph, I really don't think you should be climbin' this tree

anymore... Not that it's any of m' business..." he grunted as he pulled one of the bigger branches away. Ralph looked up at Felix with a bit of a disappointed

face and said, "Felix, I got the kite down and I'm okay. I think that's what really matters. I wouldn't leave this tree alone if my life depended on it. It's my

home." with a sigh as he opened up his hands to show Felix the kite, which was now broken into three pieces. Felix sighed, too. "Well, luckily you are alright

and you still have all the pieces of the kite so we can put it back together." Felix pulled Ralph to his feet and tried to get him to cheer up again.

Ralph attempted another smile, but it did not last long as he thought aloud, "But how are we going to...?". When Felix saw Ralph's puzzled face, he simply

grinned from ear to ear, held up his golden hammer and said, "Well, you finally get ta see m' hammer do it's job, m' friend! This here golden hammer kin'

fix anything it touches!" and while Ralph stood there dumbfounded, Felix took the kite and set to work with the hammer, tapping it

here and tapping it there until the kite appeared to be as good as new.

Ralph could not believe such a thing existed and out of shock, he said, "You know, you really should look into getting paid to do

that kind of thing, Felix!" and Felix looked up at him with an embarrassed face before replying, "Well, aren't ya s'pposed ta get paid for something that

you did yourself? I mean, it wouldn't make sense for me ta get paid money for all the work m' hammer does.". Ralph gave this thought some consideration and

as Felix handed him the kite, he said, "I suppose so. Maybe instead of money, if people feel like it, you know, they could just make you a pie or something. I

dunno.". Felix made another smile at the thought and answered with, "That seems more fair than bein' paid in money." and he almost laughed a little before

following up with, "Now, c'mon, Ralph. Lets go fly that kite!" as he took off ahead of Ralph. Ralph bolted off after him, dragging the kite along behind him until

the wind swept it up into an invisible cradle.

The boys ran around with the kite for hours, laughing and cheering, until the winds died and the sun began to sink low on the horizon.

As Ralph and Felix were wrapping the kite's string around the wooden handle, Felix laughed aloud and said, "Man, that was fun, huh, Ralph?". Ralph laughed

out in response and said, "Yeah! What a day! You know, we should do this again, some time! I hadn't had this much fun since... Since forever!". Felix's

face went into shock and his voice became both surprised and serious when he said, "Wait... You really want ta do this again, Ralph?". Ralph laughed a little

more and replied, "Well, yeah! I mean, it was great!". This seemed to make Felix happier- there were a lot of people who liked Felix just because they could

use him, but it seemed Ralph was becoming a real friend. If it meant this much to Felix that Ralph wanted to hang out again and be a real friend,

it meant three times as much to Ralph when Felix answered and said, "Well, in that case, we'll get together and hang out like this every day!", because

Ralph had not had another real friend in the world.

End of Memory 3


	4. Chapter 4

Memory 4:

You're Never Too Old To Enjoy Playing With Toys

Ralph and Felix had spent the whole summer playing together, which was making the autumn extremely lonely for

Ralph, since Felix was sent back to school. Felix came to hang around as often as he could, but neither of the two boys thought

that that was enough. Ralph was sitting with his back against his tree and he was watching the newly turned leaves slowly drift and

twirl to the ground when he noticed an unfamiliar vehicle coming up on the horizon. However, things like this happen quite often

and thinking nothing of it, Ralph decided to get up and go build things for fun out in the dump, even if they would wind up destroyed.

From where he was, Ralph could see that the vehicle had dropped off a box of items at the foot of his tree and he wondered to

himself, _What are they doing leaving their box there?_. As he got up to go check it out, he heard Felix call from a distance behind him, "Hey, Ralph!

Wanna hang out today?". A smile formed on Ralph's face as he turned around and answered back, "Sure! But first, let's go check out that box

over there!" before gesturing for Felix to follow and taking off in excitement. When the boys reached the tree, they both instantly

pounced on the box and tore it open, eager to see what was inside. At first, they were disappointed a bit- it was not

anything that boys normally like to play with, just some toy horses, some used make-up kits and a red-haired cowgirl doll.

"Well, that wasn't what I had expected..." Ralph made somewhat of a disgusted face as he picked up the cowgirl between two of his fingers

and then tossed her back into the box. Felix seemed bummed at first as well, but then the kind of smile that suggests a bright idea

broke across his face, so he gasped and said, "Ralph, you thinkin' what I'm thinkin?". Ralph seemed appalled and puzzled when he replied with,

"What? I mean, all I see here is the kinds of things girls like to play with...". Felix laughed a bit at Ralph's answer, since it was to be expected.

"You see, Ralph, there are toys that a lotta boys like ta play with more and there are toys a lotta girls like ta play with, but no one toy

has any laws or rules sayin' that it can only be played with by one kinda person. I figure maybe we could play a findin' things game! Whoever

finds the most toys the fastest wins!" Felix gestured at the box of toys and Ralph seemed to finally understand what Felix was saying before

he even finished speaking.

Now, the only dilemma was finding a way to hide the toys without either boy knowing exactly where any of them were. Before Ralph reached

into the box again, he drew back and asked, "Hey, Felix... How're we gonna get all of these toys hidden if we don't have someone else to hide'em?".

Felix took off his cap and scratched his head, saying "Hmmm... Good question, m' friend. Just what're we gonna do about that?". As soon as

Felix had said this, a little squirrel with an unusually bushy tail scurried down the tree trunk, bounded into the box, leaped out with the

cowgirl in it's mouth and sped off into the dump before either boy could catch it and take back the doll. Ralph groaned in frustration and

Felix gaped, saying, "Oh, my land... Did ya SEE that squirrel, Ralph?! He just took the cowgirl!". Lumbering over to Felix, Ralph said, "I know, I know...

We should probably go get it back before it tears the toy up. Come on." and he did not even wait for Felix to answer as he kept walking towards the dump.

When Felix and Ralph reached the mound of bricks and debris, they both split up to search every little nook and cranny for the creature.

At one point, Felix came upon an extremely thick, concrete slab covering a small hole and he tried, unsuccessfully, to lift it on his own before

calling Ralph over to help. "Ya know, sometimes, I wish I could be as strong as you, Ralph. I mean, I have this magic golden hammer an' I

still sometimes feel pretty powerless." Felix sighed as he stood back and watched Ralph lift the slab. Ralph grunted, lifted the slab above his head and

as he went to put it down, it fell from his fingers and shattered into tiny bits. Ralph's face saddened as he rubbed the back of his neck, turned to Felix

and gestured toward the pieces of concrete, saying, "Well, Felix, sometimes I wish I wasn't so strong. Sometimes, I need to build or fix

somethin' like you do, you know? But I can't because of the-" as Ralph was about to lift his fists up, Felix saw a flash of brown fur

shoot right up Ralph's overalls and he almost began to laugh himself as Ralph laughed aloud and attempted to get whatever it was to

leave him alone and stop tickling him.

Seconds later, the little squirrel was sitting with the doll still in it's mouth, on Ralph's shoulder and it cocked it's head as

Ralph and Felix were still recovering from the comedy. When all was calm again, Ralph gently took the squirrel in his hand and

coaxed it into dropping the doll from it's mouth. The cowgirl had gotten some dirt on her face and clothes, but that was not something that they

could not get taken care of before placing her back in the box. Then, Ralph looked the squirrel in the eyes and then looked at Felix, saying,

"Well, Felix, I think this squirrel is saying it wants to do the hiding for us!". Felix could not help but laugh again and before he was done,

the little squirrel had left them and rushed past with another toy in it's mouth.

They spent the rest of that day chasing the squirrel and finding the hidden toys and before nightfall, they all gathered

in front of the tree again, laughter filling the air. "Oh, man! Who knew a squirrel would wanna play, too?!" Ralph joked, striking up more laughter.

"Not only that, he's helping me re-seal the box!" Felix cracked up since, while he was fixing the box with his hammer, the little squirrel was attempting

to show him where to tap next. It was a bit absurd that a squirrel would become involved with them, but they did not mind so long as

the creature remained adorable and friendly towards them. Before Felix took off to leave, Ralph stopped him for a moment, held up the squirrel and said, "Hey,

we should probably decide on a name for this lil' guy.". Felix beamed and turned towards Ralph. "I think we should, too! Now, let's see... How about

Mittens since he's got mittens on his paws?" Felix pointed out the lighter fur on the squirrel's forelegs. Ralph thought for a moment before saying,

"Naw... How about... I know! How about Lightning?" and at this, the little squirrel zipped in a circle in front of the boys, kicking up a cloud of dust.

Both boys laughed loudly as Lightning peered up at them from under the shade of his tail in confusion.

End of Memory 4


	5. Chapter 5

Memory 5:

The Trouble With Girls: Ralph's First Love

The day was horrible, with overcast clouds, rain and tons of mud. However, Ralph never seemed to mind this much- he had grown

accustomed to not having a proper roof or an umbrella and rain gear to protect him. In fact, when he was bored,

he liked to squat down in the mud and draw with a stick or with the tip of his finger. Today, he was drawing some doodles

of himself, Felix and Lightning in the mud puddles around his tree- he really missed Felix while he was in school, but at least now

he had a pet to keep him company so he was no longer as lonely. Lightning sometimes chattered faintly, and then would scurry down

into and across the mud, creating his own little masterpiece of tiny little paw prints. One of these times, Lightning's paws

hit the ground so hard that he accidentally splashed some mud up into Ralph's eye. "Ow! Geez, Lightning, watch what you're doing!" Ralph

half grunted, half laughed as he reached up to wipe the mud away from his face.

As he did this, he looked up from the mud and after having wiped away the wet dirt, in the distance, he saw

a young girl who appeared to be crying out in the rain, all alone. Deciding that the nicer thing to do now was to attempt

to console her, he plodded through the mud to meet her. "Hey, whats wrong?" he asked, with a look of genuine concern.

"Nothin'... You probably wouldn't understand." the girl sniffled and kept a downcast gave. Ralph could not see her face from

his angle, but from what he could see, she closely resembled the girl that had died because of him at school, which

made it difficult for him to resist dropping to his knees in the mud and pounding his fists in frustration at himself.

After a long silence interrupted only by the falling rain, the girl sniffled again and said, "Why are you still here?" without

even turning her head to see him.

Ralph sighed a deep sigh and said, "I don't even know... I came over here to see what was wrong, but then... Ugh.. I dunno... I just..." as

he scratched his head in thought and shrugged his shoulders. This was turning out to be very stressful for him. The girl finally turned her face

towards him, letting the rain trickle down her cheeks, mixing with her tears. For a moment, Ralph stood there in shock- she even had the same face

and after what seemed like a while looking into her eyes, he could have sworn that he caught a glimpse of her code in a blue flash of light. Ralph leaned in

towards her with a puzzled look on his face and said, "Hey... Have we met before?". The girl sniffled, wiped her nose with the back of her sleeve and said,

"No, I don't think so. Why?". "Well..." Ralph screwed up his features in thought and took a step back, "You remind me of someone I once met

while I was still in school.". Upon hearing this, the girl seemed to relax a little, probably for the fact that here was someone who might understand

her problem, so she got to her feet, brushed off the mud and approached Ralph saying

"I'm not sure if I can tell you about my problems just yet, so for now, we should probably just get to know each other.".

Then, she extended a hand and said, "Name's Cremella. What's yours?". As Ralph tentatively grasped her small hand in

his own huge hand, he replied "Ralph. Ralph Rekkit." and attempted a friendly smile, which she seemed happy to return. Just then,

the rain began to pour harder, so Ralph led Cremella by the hand to the most sheltered area underneath the tree that he could think of.

Once there, the two of them huddled up against the tree in order to avoid getting wet. Normally, at a time like this,

Lightning would introduce himself, so Ralph assumed that Lightning must have retreated back to his little burrow in the tree to

get out of the rain now that it was pouring more. So, to pass the time, Ralph thought maybe he should start firing some

questions, so he asked, "So, is there anything that I can ask to get to know you that isn't too personal for me to know yet?" and

turned to face her, looking straight into her eyes. She thought for a moment before saying back, "Well, you're free to ask me

about things like my age, my favorite color, my favorite place... Things like that. Nothing related to my family, though." at the

end of her sentence, she seemed to shudder and made a pained face. Ralph had guessed something right- whatever it was that was

ailing her, it was something that had to do with her family.

So, Ralph and Cremella waited out the rain by firing questions at each other, discovering answers such as the fact that Ralph's favorite

color was a reddish orange and that Cremella, like Ralph, had never really had toys to play with before. However, the rain lingered long into night time

and as they began to drift off to sleep, Cremella finally admitted the first personal piece of information without being asked- her dreams for her

future when it came to her love life. Now, mind you, she was thirteen, while Ralph was now fourteen, so what you are about to read sparked something

in Ralph. Cremella turned a little more towards Ralph and with a sleepy face, she said, "You know what, Ralph?". Ralph stirred a little, almost grunting and

answered, "What?" in a half-asleep fashion. Cremella sighed and her lips parted in a genuine smile after she yawned. "If I ever get married,

I want the guy I marry to be able to accept himself no matter what and as an added note, it might be kinda nice if he had a lot of

strength so he could protect me..." she whispered between yawns and little stretches. At this, Ralph felt shocked and his heart skipped a beat

thinking that someone in this world could love someone like him. But, this was only the first day knowing her, so he decided not

to say anything about it and they both drifted off to sleep under the leaves.

A few months went by, during which Felix, Lightning, Ralph and Cremella had all gotten chances to hang around together

and by now, Ralph had decided that he really liked Cremella, but he was not sure whether or not she had the same feelings.

One day, as Ralph was sitting up against his tree with Lightning in his lap, he began thinking of just how lonely he felt without Cremella and it

was a loneliness different from the kind of which he felt when he did not get to see Felix. It was deeper and more profound and he absolutely despised it.

But suddenly, as he was thinking of this, a vehicle drove up and he could clearly hear three voices yelling in an angry fashion back and forth. When the voices

finally ceased, Ralph could see the figure of Cremella being thrown out of the vehicle as the vehicle took off and left her there. Maybe it was

time he helped her out with her problem. The treatment her family had just given her angered him to no end and it gave him quite a bit to be

concerned about, so he made a beeline straight toward her.

Again, he found her crying in the mud, only, it was not raining and she was glitching almost constantly and making loud sobbing noises.

"Cremella! What's the matter? What have they done to you, now?" Ralph was all flustered and upset with worrying.

Cremella tried to speak between sobs as Ralph, without thinking, scooped her up in his arms and started carrying her back to the tree.

"Well, I don't really know what happened this time... I was confused, so they just got mad at me and kicked me out... They never told me that

I was already engaged... When I found out, I didn't know what to do, so I ran away..." she nearly began crying rivers again and it was

just killing Ralph on the inside, but he was trying not to show it too much. Cremella wiped away more tears as Ralph carefully set her down

up against the tree trunk and she continued, "That's when I met you, Ralph and you really made me feel better. I almost forgot about my

problems and started from scratch. But then, just a week ago, my family found where I had been hiding and took me back home.

At first, things were quiet, with a lot of tension. Then, someone overheard me thinking out loud one night in my room with the door shut..."

Cremella turned her eyes towards the ground and beyond the tears and puffiness, Ralph was pretty sure what he was seeing on her

cheeks was blush.

Ralph began to blush too as he thought of what she might say next and this made him anxious to know, so he told her to go on.

Cremella hesitated for a moment, embarrassed to continue, but finally she gathered her courage and continued, "Well, they

overheard me talking about how I thought it would be much nicer to live the rest of my life with you than it would be to be married to

someone else that I've never even met... That was the last straw, I guess... Today, because of it, they finally threw me out, because they

knew I wouldn't give in... I'm stubborn when it comes to... To... Oh, my... I can't say it..." Cremella was now pulling on her hair,

but Ralph gently pulled her hands away and made her let go of it. After this, when Ralph gave Cremella a half embarrassed, half concerned face,

she shot at him a face no longer plagued by her previous issues- just one filled with twice the embarrassment and it did not help that

she was beginning to fidget. Finally, she could not stand it any longer and neither could Ralph, though he said nothing until after

she had finished speaking. "Ralph... I think I'm stubborn when it comes to you... I hate to be away from you... I... I think I've fallen...

In love." Cremella buried her face in her hands to hide her embarrassment.

Ralph had wanted to do the same thing, but he figured it would be best to talk. So, he plopped down beside her and took a moment to gather his

thoughts. "Cremella... This is going to sound weird, but... I think I've been in love with you ever since before we met... You remember that

girl I told you about that was a lot like you? Well... I always thought that maybe you were her reborn..." Ralph looked up to the sky, avoiding

possible eye contact, since he could feel his face burning up. Cremella seemed to relax and began to peer up at Ralph, who still was

not looking back at her. "Really? I was worried you didn't feel the same." her tone sounded a lot more light and happy, now.

Ralph glanced at her, still embarrassed and said, "Well, yeah... I mean... I don't know how to explain it... I just know that this feeling

just has to be love...". At this, Cremella nearly jumped with joy and threw her arms around him. This seemed to provide relief for Ralph,

especially now that their feelings were out and since the feeling was mutual, he wrapped his own arms around her as well,

pulling her into something almost like a cradle in his lap as they rested their heads together in a sort of snuggle.

The rest of that day was spent just talking and snuggling, and when it became dark, Ralph and Cremella held on tighter to

one another and held each other closer- they were not sure, but something felt horribly wrong. Cremella kept worrying

about her family going to an extreme and coming back for her to beat her or to yell at her to make things sour again. Ralph had

similar concerns, but his were more of them actually carting her off from him forever or worse. He did not want to dare to think

of what could be worse. Normally, both of them would be growing sleepy, but they were so frightened tonight that they just

could not sleep at all. Every little rustle from the branches or noise from an animal made Ralph and Cremella think, "Oh, no! What if THEY'RE here?!"

and jump a bit. Finally, around midnight, though the fear still lingered, sleep was finally winning some ground, taking down their guard.

Finally, not long after midnight, a long shadow cast itself underneath the glow of the fireflies up in the tree. Neither Ralph, nor Cremella noticed,

because their eyes were closed and their minds were shutting down for sleep. Suddenly, Ralph woke up, startled, to an ear-piercing scream and at first,

he looked around frantically to see from where it had come and then he saw- at the edge of the fireflies' pool of light, a shady figure was dragging

Cremella's body away, leaving a trail of blood. The figure noticed Ralph preparing to charge and dropping Cremella, braced itself. Ralph came at it

in a flying rage and whoever it was, they did not last a moment and the entire time, Ralph kept yelling at them, scolding them for

how they had treated Cremella. "You jerks! You should have all realized that Cremella could think for herself and do the right thing!" he yelled out

as he laid the final few poundings on the figure. After this, the figure just lay there, still, probably out cold and Ralph had hoped that the

person would just leave and never come back. When he turned around, he saw that Cremella was still lying out on the grass and he ran to her,

almost crying and scooped her up in his arms again, holding her close. She had been stabbed through the heart with a blade

and though the blade had been removed, a large hole in her chest provided a window to a network of codes, some of which were

leaving the hole like dripping blood.

As Ralph held her to him, Cremella opened her eyes a bit and tried to speak. "Ralph... I don't know how much longer I'm going to last..." she coughed.

Ralph's eyes filled with tears as he looked her in the eyes and said, "Please... Cremella... Don't leave me... Not now... I..." he bit his lip

and forced back a huge sob "I love you more than anything in this whole world..." he broke out into crying in full force. He could not take it anymore.

He was about to lose the girl he loved most in the entire universe and he could do nothing about it. Cremella put her arms around his neck,

sat up a tiny bit and, for the first and final time, without saying a word, she kissed him on the lips. Ralph felt he should probably

make this something to remember, since she was about to leave him forever. Now, both of them were kissing with equal emotion and

both of them were crying. She finally pulled away and as the code making up her physical body began disappearing in strings of numbers,

she looked up at him sadly and longingly and said her last words, "I love you and I hope you never forget that, Ralph.".

Just like that, she was gone, again, from Ralph's arms. This time, the effect was worse than the first time it had happened. The sun was making it's way over

the horizon to create the morning light, but Ralph, of course, gained no happier feelings from seeing this. He just returned to the trunk of the tree, curled up

by himself and cried.

-End of Memory 5-


	6. Chapter 6

Memory Six:

The Fox and The Hound

By now, a few more years had passed, but deep down, Ralph never really recovered from what had happened the night

he lost his first true love. He, as well as Felix, was now about nineteen. Felix was beginning to talk more openly about jobs

just about every time they hung out, and since Ralph had come to the conclusion that getting a real job was out of his reach, this

also brought on a slew of awful feelings, though Ralph always tried to hide it and acted happy for Felix. One day in particular,

Felix had dropped by for a few hours and as he and Ralph sat there beneath the branches, he looked up into the leaves with mixed

feelings of sadness and joy showing on his face and said quietly, "Ya know what, Ralph?". Ralph knew this was not

going to end in anything preferably happy, so he almost grumbled a little when he replied, "Yeah, Felix? What is it?".

It took Felix a moment to gather his thoughts. He sighed a long, drawn out sigh before saying, "I... Well... It pains me ta say this,

but...". Felix's voice was sounding weaker, softer and more meek than usual. Ralph made a pained face- he seemed to know

exactly what Felix was going to say next and he braced himself for it. "I know it's been difficult for ya these past few years... I mean, after

losin' Cremella, I can't imagine how ya feel..." Felix was having more and more trouble forming the words he was thinking of.

Ralph huffed a little, frustrated and muttered a harsh "Get to the point.". "W-Well..." Felix grabbed his cap in his hands

and wrung it like a cloth very nervously "M-My ol' man's been sayin' that soon, I'm gonna have ta take his place as

Niceland's top superintendent...". "Well, that's great... I'm happy for you, Felix. I really am." Ralph sighed and closed his eyes.

"It's just that things are going to be so lonely... I mean... What am I gonna do? All I can do is wreck things..." there was a bit of

a quiver in Ralph's voice that rang with self-disappointment and Felix felt heartbroken for his poor friend.

Felix reached out and placed a hand on Ralph's shoulder. "That's not true... I'm sure ya could find a job doin' somethin' around here."

Felix forced a smile as he said this. Just as much as Ralph did not want to bring Felix down with sentiments of future

loneliness, Felix had no intention of bringing Ralph down with the idea that he might not be able to find a job.

Ralph pulled away a little, since he was getting a little bit agitated. "Well... Ya could prolly find a job in doin' somethin' like

rippin' out tree trunks for clearnin' buildin' land..." Felix was soon surprised to find out that these were not the right words to say.

Of course, he had no intention of setting Ralph off, but this did it.

Ralph stood up, turned to face Felix with an upset look on his face, clenched his fists and said, "Felix, you should know I would never

do something like that? What if one day they ordered me to take out my own tree? Then what, huh? Do you even know how many

memories this tree already holds for me?!", stomping one of his feet into the ground. Felix backed up against the trunk, hands out

in front of his face and answered, "I'm sorry, Ralph! I didn't mean it like that... I was just tryin' ta-". "Just trying to what?

Tell me to forget about everything that's happened here? To throw it all away behind me thinkin' 'Hakuna Matata'?!" Ralph

was desperately trying to hold himself back from charging at Felix and wound up kicking some dirt around with one foot in a fit.

Felix gulped nervously and took a step forward. "No, Ralph. Ya know I didn't mean that... I was just honestly tryin' ta offer ya

some advice. It's something that good friends do. Now, please just calm down, Ralph..." Felix was shivering from fear, but

he was trying to be brave for his friend and get things straightened out.

Unfortunately, Ralph's temper was still boiling at one hundred degrees and not but a second after Felix had spoken,

Ralph let loose on a nearby pile of bricks, covering Felix in a cloud of red dust. After this, Felix finally lost some of his temper.

He was beginning to see that right now, it was of no use to try to talk Ralph out of his rage and this was frustrating.

"Okay, Ralph. Have it your way. Be angry and don't ever talk to me again! I'm leaving to go become superintendent

and I don't care if you do boo! I don't care!" Felix stood up straight with an angry face and pushed past Ralph, which

actually quite surprised Ralph and made him go completely quiet.

"So goodbye!" with this, Felix stomped off in a hurry and was soon gone out of sight. It took a moment, but Ralph began to realize

that his temper had just cost him his best friend, possibly for life. Ralph continued to look on in the direction Felix had left and bit his lip

as tears welled up in his eyes. _What have I done_? he thought to himself. Boy, was Ralph in a miserable state now, more than ever before.

-End of Memory 6-


	7. Chapter 7

Memory 7:

Hey! You Turned My Tree Into A Stump! Arrrrgh!

Nearly a decade had passed since Felix and Ralph had spoken to one another. Ralph had made an attempt to find Felix,

only to find that he had moved out of town and it seemed no one was willing to tell Ralph just how long Felix was planning to be gone.

So, day after day, Ralph would take out his frustration by smashing piles of bricks at the dump and every night, all he could do

was sit up against his tree, watch the fireflies dance and remember the nights he spent with Cremella. One night, he

let out a really long sigh and said, "I still remember the glow from her face that she'd get just about every night we did this...".

When he could not stand it anymore, he rolled onto his side and closed his eyes. This never stopped the memories,

but sleep always eventually came and eased the pain, if only for a fleeting moment. With the two people he cared about the most in the world gone,

what was there to do? The night passed peacefully, but that following morning, Ralph had a very rude awakening. Ralph nearly jumped and

his eyelids flew open when he heard the noise of a huge vehicle not far behind. Then, he felt sharp pain on the back of his head. In his reaction, he had

accidentally hit his head on one of the lower branches. As he reached up to rub the spot where it had hit, a very short Nicelander quickly approached him

from the front and held up something that looked like an official document. "Oh, no... It can't be... Not now..." thought Ralph as he bent down to

take the paper. He almost wanted to scream and tear his hair out when he read the document. They were taking away his tree! He wanted

to do something about it, but there was nothing he could think of that would not land him with some kind of ticket or sentence.

Ralph looked around, hoping that there might be a way out of this mess somewhere, or at least somewhere where he could go and quickly think up a plan.

But then, Ralph's fear slowly began to turn into wild fury. He saw that there was a small crowd of workers all trying to get some higher-up to sign

some documents. When the crowd had thinned out a little, he could clearly see that the man signing papers was none other than Gene, who used

to pick on him back when the both of them were in school. "So Gene is behind all o' this..." he thought to himself as he tried to prevent a

snarl from creeping onto his face. As soon as they noticed the changes on Ralph's face, several Nicelanders began attempting to pull him away.

It was at this point that Ralph's expression softened a little, when he realized that if he fought back, someone could get killed. So, he

decided he would let them hold him back for now.

About half an hour later, the saws on the front of the vehicle began whirring and it began to approach the tree. Ralph had been unable to

come up with a plan in which no one would get hurt and so had resorted to a depressed, silent state. He was watching, thinking there was nothing

he could do when suddenly, as soon as the blades had cut about an inch into the tree, Ralph heard a loud, terrified squeak from one of the

little holes in the tree. In fear and almost forgetting about the Nicelanders surrounding him, Ralph began pushing through the group,

reaching out towards the tree. "Lightening!" was all he could manage to say. He kept moving, but for the most part, he was so

numb with fear that he felt his lips were sealed. He did not even notice how many Nicelanders he had almost stepped on when he

made his way through. Then, without thinking, he flew at the vehicle and began tearing it apart. I suppose it could be said that

Ralph was thinking that if he could dismantle it in time, maybe the tree would not be too damaged and no one would get hurt.

However, Ralph was wrong.

Ralph was ripping and tossing every piece he could get his hands on, almost roaring in anger. This soon, however, came to a nearly abrupt stop.

Something that Ralph had tossed hit the window shield, creating a massive crack in the glass that caused Gene, who was now the one in the driver's seat

to scream in fear before opening the door to yell threats at Ralph. In this same instant, Gene accidentally switched off the blades. Ignoring Gene's

insults and accusations, Ralph finally came to and looked up to see if the tree was still standing. Just as a relieved smile began to surface on Ralph's

face, there came a loud creaking sound from the tree. Happiness was over in an instant. The tree then fell forward and landed with a loud thud on the

ground. Ralph's smile quickly faded into a look of sadness and shock. "Well, thanks for the help, Ralph. You've finally done something

useful." Gene was now staring angrily up at Ralph, hands on his hips and a foot tapping on the ground. Then, Ralph finally felt

a load of guilt. "Well, Gene, I-" he started to speak and gesture towards the torn-up vehicle and the trunk. "Well, what, Ralph? Did you really think

wrecking the machine would solve this, huh?" Gene was getting up in Ralph's face.

Now, Ralph realized that Gene still would never listen to a word he had to say, so he just walked on past him to the fallen tree and

knelt down to see if Lightening was alright. Gene only huffed, crossed his arms and said nothing more. Ralph lowered his head and

peeked into the little hole which held Lightening's nest. His face went from concerned to utterly offended at the sight he laid eyes on before

tears began rolling down his cheeks in silence. Now, he had lost his tree and his pet. He no longer had anywhere to go- his

little bit of Heaven had just been torn to shreds.

Ralph rose to his feet and left the area without saying a word. That day, Ralph acquired an addiction to drinking, as he spent the next few hours until

nightfall at Tapper's. Drinking could never solve his problems or make them go away, and he realized it, but it just happened to be one of those

things that sometimes eases the pain just a bit, much like sleep. "Sleep?" he then thought, "Where am I going to sleep, now?". It was then that he

realized how late it was getting and he decided to head home to the dump back in Fix-It Felix Jr. to try and find a new place to sleep.

When he arrived back at the dump, his heart sank again. Out in the middle of the bricks, he saw his stump. Not only had they

cut the tree in two, they even dug up the roots and carted the trunk away to be dumped onto the bricks. "Well, it's not much, but

it's all I have, now..." he thought to himself as he wandered over and began pummeling the bricks in front of the stump to his

liking. It was the first night in years that Ralph would sleep without watching his firefly friends and without seeing Lightening.

He was now completely and utterly alone.

-End of Memory 7!-


	8. Chapter 8

Memory 8:

Just Like Old Times! (The Final Memory)

Some years passed, in which the land not far from the dump was completely cleared and the Nicelanders had erected an

extremely tall apartment complex smack dab in the center of it all. This seemed to be the icing on a very nasty tasting cake for Ralph,

as it only accelerated his anger. Every day he laid eyes on the disheartening mammoth of a structure only made him wish to tear it to shreds more than the

previous day. One particularly quiet day, he looked down at his hands and a thought crossed his mind. "Maybe I could go over

and ask if I can stay there... Maybe I can learn to fix things for them in return..." a positive tone began to ring in his head as he dusted himself off

and headed for the front door of the Nicelanders' building.

Before he could even touch the wood of the door to knock, someone opened the door. Ralph slowly looked down to see who it was

that had answered and he was rather discouraged when he saw that it was Gene, looking back up at him with an annoyed

expression, folded arms and a tapping foot. "What do you want now, Ralph? We're trying to have a meeting with our new superintendent."

he grumped. Ralph sighed. "Look, I'm sorry, Gene... I just came here to see if I could-" Gene interrupted him, in a hurry to get back to the meeting.

"If you could what? Get an apartment? No. I don't think so, Ralph. Get a life." Gene coldly tossed Ralph a steaming hot apple pie and

slammed the door in his face. At first, this left Ralph bewildered and wondering what to do next. Then, he realized that what he was

now holding in his hands was a pie! Could it be? Had Felix returned?

Ralph just had to find out for himself. He raced around the bottom floor, checking every window to see which room the meeting was being held in.

No luck, but Ralph was undeterred. He proceeded to climb the building to get a look in the windows he knew led to uninhabited rooms. When finally,

he found a mostly empty room in which a few dark figures were sitting at a table, talking and exchanging some papers. Before he could focus and

attempt to see if Felix was in the room, someone came to the open window through which Ralph was looking and rudely shut the thing on

Ralph's fingers, causing him to pull away and lose balance. Ralph screamed in pain, flailed, slipped and went plummeting to the ground, taking a few

bits of windowsill and some potted plants with him.

He remained unconscious for a period of time, sprawled out in the mud by the side of the building. He had even managed to

knock over one of the bushes on impact, so he was almost buried in dirt- in his own grave. Just as he was coming to, the front doors opened

and a familiar voice rang out from the building. "Oh my land! Ralph, are you alright?!What were ya doin' climbin' the building?!" a concerned Felix

rushed over to his friend's side and began trying to help him up. "Ugh..." Ralph reached up and rubbed his forehead, trying to stabilize himself.

A few Nicelanders' gathered around as Felix dusted Ralph off. "You coulda got yerself killed, Ralph..." there was a sensation of near despair in

Felix's tone. Ralph finally became steady and took a good look at himself, then at Felix. All of this mess reminded him of the times

he and Felix used to get messed up and dirty playing around his tree. He remembered all of the laughter and bliss of those childhood days and it seemed

Felix was not too far behind in catching on to this- smiles were spreading on both of their faces before both of them burst out laughing. A group

of lost and confused Nicelanders were gaping in shock, which made Ralph and Felix laugh even harder. When the laughter subsided,

Felix leaped up and wrapped his arms around Ralph, a huge smile plastered on his face. "I missed you, buddy." Felix almost could have shed

a tear saying this. Ralph returned the embrace and the expression, saying "I missed you too, Felix.".

The end!


End file.
